Ironmen set sights on strong finish

Wednesday

Emerging from a 44-15 non-district win at Regent Prep, the red-hot Nowata High School Ironmen hurdle back into District 2A-7 football action with Friday’s showdown at Chouteau-Mazie.

Emerging from a 44-15 non-district win at Regent Prep, the red-hot Nowata High School Ironmen hurdle back into District 2A-7 football action with Friday’s showdown at Chouteau-Mazie.

Nowata (7-1, 3-1) is still battling to secure at least the No. 2 seed in the district and guarantee homefield advantage in the first round of the playoffs, set to open Nov. 15.

The Chouteau-Mazie Wildcats, meanwhile, are 3-5 overall and 1-4 in district, and riding a four-game losing streak during which they been outscored, 138-26.

"Chouteau is kind of a strange opponent," Nowata head coach Matt Hagebusch said this week. "When you look at them on film, they look pretty decent at times, but they’ve been a little inconsistent. They made a couple of mistakes against Caney Valley (Caney Valley won, 13-6, last week) that hurt them."

As usual, Hagebusch isn’t as concerned about the opponent as he is about the quality of his team’s performance.

"We want to go into it and play well," he said. "We want to get better and improve on some things."

The Ironmen also are still in a spirited fight to grab the No. 2 for the second-straight year.

Adair (7-1, 5-0) leads the district and has beaten the Ironmen in their head-to-head match.

Pawhuska (3-5) has gotten fire in district play. The Huskies are tied for second place, with Nowata, at 3-1.

However, Pawhuska still has to play Oklahoma Union (3-5, 1-3), which is battling for the final playoff spot, and Adair.

After Chouteau, Nowata will finish up the regular season by taking on Chelsea (2-6, 1-3), another playoff hopeful.

A victory at Chouteau would go a long way toward locking down the second seed for Nowata — but Hagebusch isn’t downplaying the threat by the Pawhuska Huskies to displace the Ironmen at No. 2.

In their showdown earlier this season, Nowata muscled out a 31-23 victory against the Huskies.

"They played an incredibly difficult non-district schedule," he noted. "They’re now playing teams they’re a lot better matchup up with."

One of Hagebusch’s Ironmen’s strengths has been their ability to come out strong.

Last week at Regent Prep, Ironmen senior Nate Moore broke loose on the game’s first play for a 60-yard touchdown run.

By the end of the first quarter, the Ironmen led, 23-0. They increased their lead to 39-0 by halftime.

Moore finished with three touchdowns, including two receiving touchdowns, covering 17 and 31 yards, from quarterback Wyatt Steigerwald.

Will Luster rushed for two more Nowata scores, on runs of five and 15 yards.